In recent years, various advances have been made in the design and manufacture of electronic timepieces which utilize a quartz crystal vibrator as a frequency standard, and a very wide variety of styles and designs are now available. There is one area however in which the requirements for a special type of quartz crystal electronic timepiece have not been satisfied by modern technology to a satisfactory extent. This is in the area of electronic wristwatches of very small size, for use as a ladies wristwatch or bracelet watch. The failure to meet the special requirements for such a timepiece are not due primarily to an inability to manufacture components of very small size for use in a highly miniaturized electronic timepiece. They are, rather, due to the limitations placed upon the size of such an electronic timepiece by considerations of battery capacity and the minimum practicable battery lifetime. As the size of battery used to power such an electronic timepiece is reduced, the usable battery life is of course also reduced. This problem is increased by the fact that a stepping motor of very small size is less efficient than a motor of more normal size, thereby increasing the power consumption of the timepiece and further tending to reduce the battery lifetime. In addition, it is desirable that the movement of such a miniaturized electronic timepiece should be as thin and flat as possible, in order to provide a maximum of freedom for designing a timepiece of unusual and elegant design. However, with prior art arrangements for the various components of a timepiece, it is not possible to reduce the thickness of the timepiece movement below a certain amount.
With a movement structure according to the present invention, the problems described above which arise with prior art movement configurations are substantially reduced, enabling a movement of extremely small size to be produced which is thin and flat in shape, yet which can accommodate a relatively large size of battery, thereby ensuring a practicable battery lifetime.